Next time you hear the old spiel about how uncaring our society would be without trial lawyers, call this story to mind, from earlier this month:

A man who was molested as a child by a Portland priest -- then secured a $900,000 settlement from the church -- has yet to see a penny more than seven years after the church paid out the money. In a lawsuit filed this week in Multnomah County Circuit Court, the man alleges that attorneys who represented him in the case managed to claim $877,000 of the settlement, leaving him with no more than $23,000. Yet the man, identified only by his initials, G.B., hasn't seen a check for any amount. According to the suit, G.B. has been living off $400 to $500 a month in Social Security disability payments. Little else has been disclosed about G.B., other than he's suffered a lifetime of damage because of the abuse...

By the end of this new lawsuit, they'll probably have his house, too.